The Hottest Lavas of the Phanerozoic and the Survival of Deep Archean Reservoirs

GeoPRISMS Distinguished Lecturer

Dr. Esteban Gazel

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Cornell University

SEPTEMBER 2017 PGS NEWSLETTER VOL LXX NO 1

SEPTEMBER 20, 2017

Social hour 6:00 PM

Dinner 7:00 PM

Program 8:00 PM

Dinner costs $30.00 per person $10.00 student member

Reservations Email your name and number of attendees in your party to:

pgsreservations @gmail.com

You can also reserve and pay via PayPal on:

https://www.pittsburghgeologicalsociety.org/

Location Foster’s Restaurant,

Foster Plaza Bldg. 10,

GreenTree PA

Deadline for reservations is noon Monday, Sept 18.

SPEAKER ABSTRACT

The mantle plume hypothesis is widely

accepted for the formation of large igneous

provinces and many modern-day hotspot

volcanoes. Petrologic models suggest that

plume-derived melts originate at high mantle

temperatures (>1500°C) relative to those

generated at ambient mid-ocean ridge

conditions (~1350°C). Earth’s mantle has also

appreciably cooled during its history due to

heat loss and decrease in radioactive heat

production, thus the temperatures of modern

day basalts are substantially lower than those

produced during the Archean (>2.5 Ga), as

recorded by komatiites (>1700°C).

Here, we provide evidence that the ~90 Ma

Galapagos-related Tortugal Suite accreted in

Costa Rica not only record mantle potential

temperatures as high as ancient Archean

komatiites (~1800°C), but we also collected the

highest olivine-spinel crystallization

temperatures ever reported in the literature

(1600°C). Therefore, to the best of our

knowledge, this suite represents the record of

the hottest lavas of the Phanerozoic.

This type of magma occurred more frequently

during the Archean due to overall higher

ambient mantle temperatures, yet our data

suggest that anomalously hot, isolated

domains still exist in the deep portions of the

planet that have survived billions of years of

mantle convection and cooling. This finding is

in line with the recent results that showed that

early-formed 182W/184W mantle

heterogeneities, produced during the first 50

million years of planetary accretion, survived to

present time and has been sampled by mantle

plumes. Our finding supports the existence of

primitive Archean reservoirs, although in most

plumes cooler ambient mantle entrainment

probably dilutes its signature.

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Esteban Gazel is an Associate Professor at

the Department of Earth and Atmospheric

Sciences at Cornell University. He uses

geochemical and petrological tools to

understand intraplate magmatism, subduction

zone processes, and deep Earth geochemical

cycles.

Ongoing projects for Dr. Gazel include the

evolution of mantle plumes (from Large

Igneous Provinces to modern hotspots), the

role of island arcs in the generation of

continental crust, and volatile budgets in the

mantle. His research approach integrates a

combination of field, lab, statistical, and

theoretical methods with interdisciplinary

collaboration with other fields in Earth Science.

Dr. Gazel is one of four speakers selected for

the 2017-2018 GeoPRISMS Distinguished

Lectureship Program. For more information

about GeoPRISMS (Geodynamic Processes at

Rifting and Subducting Margins), visit their

website: http://geoprisms.org/

About This Month’s Cover Image

The cover of this newsletter is an

artistic interpretation of an Archean

komatiite lava flow created by

Professor Claude Herzberg of Rutgers

University. This figure was featured in

the widespread news coverage of Dr.

Gazel’s research with his doctoral

student, Jarek Trela, which was

published in Nature Geoscience.

Komatiites are ultramafic lava flows which erupted at

extremely high temperatures during the Earth’s earliest eon,

the Archean. They are recognized in the field by their unique

spinifex texture, named for its similarity to a perennial coastal

grass plant that grows throughout the southern hemisphere.

Komatiite lavas are widely assumed to be ‘extinct’ on Earth, since our planet has cooled down so

much since the Archean. Join us in September to find out whether that assumption is still correct!

Preview of our Next Meeting

PRESIDENT’S STATEMENT Welcome

back!

I hope

everyone

had a great

summer …

although I

must say

that those of

us who

elected not

to go anywhere far may give the season mixed

reviews. For one, I don’t expect to hear official

calls for water conservation and I’m thankful

our French drain and sump pump are in good

working order. And the cool temperatures may

be welcome to those who do not care who do

not care to spend much time swimming.

Sarcasm aside, summer is also a time where

some things slow down a little and PGS

business is no exception. Not that the society

fell into a non-interrupted slumber, for we

performed two outreach events for the

surrounding community. PGS was invited to

participate in a geology day camp on July 12 at

McConnell's Mill State Park. The event was

sponsored by the Lawrence County

Conservation District. Karen Rose Cercone

represented us and led eight middle school

students in a 'build the rock cycle' activity

where they learned about the differences

between igneous, sedimentary and

metamorphic rocks.

About a month later, on the evening of August

8, Brian Dunst, Dan Billman, and I talked about

geology to six children and about the same

number of adults at the Chartiers-Houston

Community Library. Brian and Dan brought

their rock collections and Brian came up with

the theme: Every Rock Has a Story. The

eldest attending child was a young lady about

to enter the seventh grade. The aspiring

paleontologist stayed with us until it was time

for the library to close and, I dare say, walked

out even more inspired than before.

I am once again spoiled with a board packed

with dedication, skill, and experience. Tamra

Schiappa will continue to serve a third year as

Vice President and Programs Committee

Chairperson. Kyle Fredrick will take on a

second year of husbanding our monetary

resources as Treasurer. Ken LaSota will

replace Karen Rose Cercone as Secretary. He

will also continue as Chairperson of the

Educational Outreach Committee. Karen Rose

will continue as Editor of the PGS newsletter

and Web Master of the PGS web site.

Returning committee chairpersons not

mentioned above include Judy Neelan

(Archives), Wendell Barner (Audit), Albert

Kollar (Awards), Erica Love (Communications),

Frank Benacquista (Continuing Education),

Past President Ray Follador (Finance, and

Nominations and Elections), and Counselor

John Harper (Membership). Other returning

board members are Counselor Chuck Shultz,

AAPG Delegates Andrea Reynolds and Dan

Billman, and returning Directors-at-Large Mark

Barnes, Brian Dunst, and Diane Miller. I am

pleased to recognize three individuals who will

begin new two-year terms as Director-at-Large:

Wendell Barner, Mary Ann Gross, and Erica

Love. I am also happy to announce that Phil

Graves will serve as Student Liaison for a

second year. I think we are in excellent shape

for 2017-2018.

Normally I’d close by looking forward to seeing

all of you at the first PGS meeting, which will

occur on September 20. As it is, my wife and I

will be watching our grandkids in South

Carolina while our daughter and son-in-law run

off to celebrate their tenth anniversary. So, I’ll

see you in October. Finally, I have this friendly

reminder: please remember to pay your

membership dues.

Peter R. Michael President

GEOPHYSICAL SOCIETY OF PITTSBURGH

September 13, 2017

“Geophysics and its Role in Appalachian Basin Oil

and Gas Exploration and Development” presented

by Joel Star of EQT Production

Cefalo’s Banquet & Event Center, Carnegie PA

HARRISBURG GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

September 14, 2017

“Using Stable Isotopes in Bryozoans to Constrain

the Timing of the Formation of the Isthmus of

Panama Relative to the Onset of the Gulf Stream

and Northern Hemisphere Glaciation” presented by:

Professor Marcus M. Key, Dickinson College

AEG Offices, Harrisburg PA

PENNSYLVANIA COUNCIL OF PROFESSIONAL

GEOLOGISTS

September 11, 2017

“Variability in the Gas Geochemistry of the

Appalachian Basin and Contemporaneous

Influences on Fate and Transport”

Cranberry Twp., PA

PITTSBURGH ASSOCIATION OF PETROLEUM

GEOLOGISTS

September 21, 2017

“Rare Earth Element Enrichment in Sedimentary

Rocks in Pennsylvania: Evidence of a Fossil Ion-

Adsorbed Deposit' presented by Tracy Bank of the

National Energy Technology Laboratory

Cefalo’s Banquet & Event Center, Carnegie PA

THE ASCE PITTSBURGH SECTION -

GEO-INSTITUTE CHAPTER

September 19, 2017

“Geopier Rammed Aggregate Application and

Regional Case Studies” presented by Keithe J. Merl

of GeoStructures, Inc.

Gaetano’s Restaurant, Pittsburgh PA

GEOLOGICAL EVENTS

220 South Jefferson Street, Suite B, Kittanning, PA

The Pittsburgh Geological Society is

delighted to welcome the following new

members to the society:

Annie M. Gerry

Geologist/Project Coordinator

3300 Daniel Lane #307

Monroeville, PA 15146

2011 MS in Geology

East Carolina University

Kelly Morgano

Graduate Student

West Virginia University

2016 BS in Geology

Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.

UPCOMING MEETINGS OF INTEREST TO PGS MEMBERS

October 23, 2017

SPEE Monograph 4 Short Course

Estimating Ultimate Recovery of Developed Wells in Low-Permeability Reservoirs

Hilton Garden Inn, Canonsburg PA

Don’t miss an opportunity to attend this highly

popular class with Dr. W. John Lee, Professor

of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M

University. John holds BS, MS, and PhD

degrees in chemical engineering from the

Georgia Institute of Technology. He worked for

ExxonMobil early in his career and specialized

in integrated reservoir studies. He later joined

the Petroleum Engineering faculty at Texas

A&M, and became Regents Professor of

Petroleum Engineering. He served as an

Academic Engineering Fellow with the U.S.

Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) in

Washington during 2007-2008, and was a

principal architect of the modernized SEC rules

for reporting oil and gas reserves.

This one-day course will provide fundamental

background information and concepts to

forecast production for developed wells in

unconventional, low-permeability reservoirs as

covered in SPEE Monograph 4.

For more information or to register, visit:

https://secure.spee.org/civicrm/event/info?id=140

September 24-27, 2017

ES-AAPG 2017 Section Meeting Morgantown, West Virginia

Join us in the Morgantown, WV for the 2017

annual meeting of the AAPG Eastern Section.

The meeting is hosted by the Geological Society

of West Virginia and the West Virginia

Geological Survey, and will be held in the heart

of Morgantown at the Waterfront Hotel (Soon to

be Marriott). Our workshops, field trips, and

technical sessions will comprise an ambitious

program addressing many of the resource

opportunities and challenges in the Appalachian,

Illinois, and Michigan Basins. Field trips include:

WHAT THE H?

This two-day field trip will allow participants to

examine rock outcrops ranging in age from

Ordovician through Pennsylvanian along a

relatively new stretch of highway with fantastic

exposures (US 48, or "Corridor H") and farther

south along US 33. The trip will be a west-east

traverse from the Allegheny Plateau across the

Allegheny Front and into the Valley and Ridge

province in eastern West Virginia.

DECKERS CREEK BIKE RIDE

Come join us for a leisurely bicycle ride down the

Deckers Creek Rail Trail. There will be stops for

a snack and possible side excursion to a pub.

We invite you to join us in Morgantown. For more

information or to register, visit:

http://mapwv.gov/ESAAPG/

THE ORIGIN OF WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA PLACE NAMES

McKees Rocks, a borough on the Ohio River about 4 miles

downriver from Pittsburgh, was named for Alexander McKee, a

trader and Indian agent who settled there in 1764. McKee was

given a 1300-acre tract of land that included a rocky promontory

on the river in payment for his services during the French and

Indian War. George Washington had considered the promontory

as a possible site for Fort Pitt before deciding to rebuild on the

ashes of Fort Duquesne.

McKees Rocks was officially founded in 1769 and incorporated

as a borough in 1892, but its history goes back well before the

French and Indian War. Prior to settlement by Europeans,

Native Americans dating at least as to the Adena culture (circa

1000 BC) lived in the region and built what is considered to be

the largest burial mound in the state. The mound, which

archaeologists believe might have been started as recently as

250 BC, was 16½ feet tall and 85 feet in diameter. First

excavated in 1896, the mound yielded 33 skeletons as well as religious and other artifacts from both the

Adena and, later, the Hopewell people who conquered and assimilated them. Some of the artifacts were

made of copper or marine shells, suggesting the Adena were involved in widespread trading. A historical

marker commemorating the Adena people and their mound was placed at an athletic field nearby in 2002.

DID YOU KNOW . . . ?

Paleontologists have reconstructed the face of a

tyrannosaurid that lived 75-million-years ago from

a fossil skull belonging to Daspletosaurus horneri

that roamed northern Montana and southern

Alberta during the Late Cretaceous. The dinosaur

had a face covered in flat scales that were

probably extremely sensitive to touch, like those of

modern crocodiles.

The researchers based that assumption on the

texture of the bone. It might surprise some folks

that the tissue beneath the skin can be

reconstructed from fossil bones. But living bone is

shaped by muscles, nerves, and blood vessels

that constantly bump up against and nourish it,

and different tissues leave different impressions

on the bone that can be seen in fossils.

Unlike humans, whose faces are covered with

fairly thick, soft tissue, birds and reptiles have very

thin skin and sensors that sit directly on bone,

giving them very sensitive faces.

McKees Rocks at the end of the hill that includes the state’s largest Native

American burial mound

Reconstruction of the head of the tyrannosaur, Daspletosaurus horneri

Assuming the researchers are correct, and the

same was true for Daspletosaurus, it and its large

relatives, like Tyrannosaurus rex, may have had

some distinctly crocodile-like behavior. Sensitive

faces could have helped them in their predatory

behavior, as well as in mating behavior.

Crocodiles, for example, can detect and grab

nearby prey, even in complete darkness, because

their entire bodies have highly touch-sensitive

sensory organs. They also use these sensory

organs in their noses to find egg-laying spots at

the right temperatures in dirt. The researchers

found that the texture of the fossil skull most

closely resembled that of the faces of alligators

and crocodiles.

(https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/31/science/t

yrannosaurs-face-dinosaur.html?_r=0)

The study of Earth’s earliest crust is very difficult

because tectonic deformation has, for the most

part, jumbled it up and driving it back into the

planet’s interior. Finding remnants of early crust is

extremely difficult as a result, and only a few

remnants of 4 ga crust still exist in the geologic

record. Only isolated zircon grains of have been

dated to be older than 4 ga.

Now, a new approach gives geologists the ability

to detect the presence of immensely ancient crust

that got reworked into much younger (but still

really old) rocks by studying variations in the

abundance of neodymium-142 that was created

by the radioactive decay of samarium-142, which

was present when the Earth formed. Samarium-

142 has a half-life of only 103 ma, so it became

extinct early in Earth history, and the only reason

we know of its existence is from the study of

meteorites from the moon and Mars. Variations in

the relative abundance of neodymium-142 in

preserved rock, compared to other neodymium

isotopes not related to samarium decay, reflect

chemical processes that changed the

samarium/neodymium ratio during the time that

samarium-146 was still present on Earth – i.e.,

before approximately 4 ga.

Canadian researchers studied billion-year-old

granitic rocks from the eastern shore of Hudson

Bay that, based on their geochemistry, were

derived from the re-melting of basaltic oceanic

crust that was more than 4.2 ga. Basaltic oceanic

crust survives at Earth’s surface for less than 200

million years before it sinks back into Earth’s

interior due to the action of plate tectonics. The

researchers’ findings, however, suggest that this

basaltic crust may have survived at Earth’s

surface for at least 1.5 ga before later being re-

melted into rocks that form a portion of the

northernmost Superior craton. This result might

imply that plate tectonics was not at work during

the earliest part of Earth history. But now

researchers can investigate this phenomenon

using the neodymium-142 variation to track the

role of really old crust in building up somewhat

younger sections of Earth’s continental crust.

(http://www.sci-news.com/geology/early-

earths-crust-04709.html)

New research concludes that human-induced and naturally-occurring earthquakes in the central US share the same shaking potential and can cause similar damage. This finding, by scientists at Stanford University, contradicts previous observations suggesting

Artist’s conception of early Earth

that induced earthquakes exhibit weaker shaking than natural ones and could help scientists make predictions about future earthquakes and mitigate their potential damage. As a result of the study, they can begin to reduce uncertainty about how hard induced earthquakes shake the ground, leading to more accurate risk estimates.

Earthquakes in the central U.S. have increased over the past 10 years as a result of the expansion of shale-gas and other unconventional oil and gas operations that discard large amounts of wastewater by injecting it into porous formations underground. Stresses released by earthquakes already exists in the subsurface. Injecting water helps to speed up the process. Oklahoma’s largest seismic events, three large, >5.0 magnitude events, occurred in 2016, causing significant damage to the area. The number of earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater has dropped since the beginning of 2017, thanks in part to new regulations limiting wastewater injection. Researchers measure the force driving tectonic plates to slip, known as stress drop, by measuring the difference between a fault's stress before and after an earthquake. The Stanford team analyzed seismic data from 39 earthquakes in the central US and eastern North America, both human-induced and natural, ranging from magnitude 3.3 to 5.8. Their results showed the stress drops of induced and natural earthquakes share the same characteristics (after accounting for external factors like fault-slip type and earthquake depth).

An additional result of the research indicates that most earthquakes in the eastern US and Canada exhibit stronger shaking potential than those in the central US and California because they occur on reverse faults. Even though these typically are very old and relatively stable, and the risk for naturally occurring earthquakes is low, the large populations and fragile infrastructure in the eastern US and Canada makes this area vulnerable when earthquakes do occur. The researchers also concluded that as quakes occur deeper, the rocks become stronger and the stress drop becomes more powerful. This factor needs to be considered as people begin to revise ground-motion models that describe how strong the shaking will be. And since the types of rocks being exploited by unconventional oil and gas recovery in the North America can be found all over the world, the results of the Stanford study will be widely applicable. (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/0

8/170802152517.htm)

A team of American geoscientists used computer modeling to explain how pockets of mushy rock accumulate at the boundary between Earth's core and mantle. The pockets, known as ultra-low velocity zones because seismic waves greatly slow down as they pass through them, lie approximately 1,800 mi below the surface. Although they have been known for many years, there has never been an adequate explanation of how they formed. Many geologists have thought the zones are partially molten despite their occurrence in some of the cooler regions of the deep mantle. Originally assumed to be partially molten versions of the rock surrounding them, their global distribution and large variations in density, shape, and size suggest that they actually have a different composition than the mantle. Seismic evidence allows both possibilities, so the researchers decided to model mantle

Oklahoma area of induced and natural seismicity.

convection by computer to see the shapes and positions of the zones could provide an answer. The researchers found that two very large structures of rock deep in the Earth are probably made of something different from the rest of the mantle and called them thermochemical piles, or more simply, “blobs”.

The origin and composition of the “blobs” are unknown, but the new computer modeling explains how the ultra-low velocity zones are associated with them. The zones typically are many miles tall, and tens or hundreds of miles wide and are mostly located near the edges of the “blobs”, although some appear to be both inside and well away from the “blobs”. The computer modeling indicated that most of the ultra-low velocity zones are compositionally different than the surrounding mantle, and that pockets of rock with different compositions can migrate from anywhere along the core-mantle boundary toward the margins of the “blobs”. The margins of the thermochemical piles are where mantle-flow patterns converge, providing a sort of collection depot for denser types of rock. Although the details aren’t completely clear, the modeling shows that rocks of different composition respond to mantle convection in a way that gathers compositionally-similar materials together and moves small pockets of chemically-distinct rocks to the edges of the hotter “blobs” above the core-mantle boundary.

The researchers determined that, if ultra-low velocity zones are caused by melting of otherwise normal mantle, they should be located inside the “blobs” where the mantle is hottest. Alternately, if the ultra-low velocity zones have a composition different from the ordinary mantle rock, then mantle convection would continually carry them to the edges of piles where they collect, which is exactly what the researchers were seeing by seismic observations. Where the rock in the ultra-low velocity zones came from originally still needs to be determined. (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/0

8/170802082922.htm)

The Utica Shale in eastern Ohio has transformed from an underappreciated rock unit to one of the most valuable oil and gas drilling targets in North America just within the last three years. Ohio’s Department of Natural

Small areas of a compositionally-distinct rock (red) collect at Earth's core-mantle boundary (tan) near the margins of large thermochemical piles (green) at the base of Earth's mantle.

Horizontal Utica shale wells in Ohio as of 2014.

Resources, Division of Oil and Gas Resources, has issued more than 1000 drilling permits during that time, and many of those wells are already producing crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids per month worth millions of dollars. Drilling pads constructed at the surface typically have one or more vertical wells, and each vertical well usually has a horizontal leg that can travel laterally for one to two miles underground. These horizontal legs are where the hydraulic fracturing and oil and gas production occur. Very few people know where these horizontal wells travel, and even experienced geologists are surprised when they see the geographic pattern produced by many wells. But once a person understands that the well is drilled through up to two miles of Utica Shale "pay zone," it is much easier to understand how one small-diameter well can yield such high volumes of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. (http://geology.com/utica.shtml)

The deadliest and most destructive aspect

associated with volcanoes isn’t the eruption itself,

but the pyroclastic flows associated with them.

Pyroclastic flows are fluidlike avalanches of hot

gases, ash, and rock fragments that pour down

volcanic slopes, destroying everything in their

paths. They typically consist of two parts: 1) a

dense flow that hugs the slope and valley floor;

and 2) a more diluted, gas-rich ash cloud known

as a surge. Scientists have modeled the

behavior of the dense flows, but they lacked a

complete understanding of the physics

controlling the surges.

Now researchers have developed a new

numerical model that is capable of simulating

both flows and surges, as well as their

interactions that can spawn one another by

exchanging material. Earlier models were more

computational; this new model employs an

approach that is commonly used to simulate

landslides – a depth-averaged method where all

physical properties are integrated perpendicular to

the ground. It also allows for rapid calculations to

assess hazards if an eruption is imminent.

Results from the new method indicate that: 1)

thick flows move more quickly than thin flows; and

2) any factor that allows a dense flow to attain a

speed of about 82 feet per second can create a

surge, which helps explain why a change in

topography can generate a surge.

The new model was tested by simulating two

phases of the intensely studied 2010 eruption of

Indonesia’s Mt. Merapi on Java, which produced

more than 100 pyroclastic flows, killed an

estimated 367 people, and caused at least $600

billion in economic losses. The model was able to

reproduce the general characteristics of both

types of eruptive phases that occurred during the

eruption, including the different deposits’ extent,

volume, thickness, and paths. The research team

found some significant differences between the

model output and the documented phenomena.

The model, however, is the first to simulate both

portions of pyroclastic flows. This represents a

major advance in the capability to predict ash

cloud surges and their devastating consequences.

(https://eos.org/research-spotlights/a-

promising-new-tool-for-forecasting-volcanic-

hazards)

Village of Kinahrejo following the 2010 eruption of Merapi volcano on Java, Indonesia.

Paleontologists have often wondered what the

earliest relatives of the dinosaurs looked like.

Most have thought that they would have looked

like small dinosaurs that walked on two legs. Now,

a new discovery of a Middle Triassic reptile

named Teleocrater rhadinus that pre-dated the

first true dinosaurs by 10 million years has proven

the popular concepts incorrect.

Teleocrater rhadinus appears in the fossil record

just after the archosaurian reptiles split into the

two branches that eventually evolved into 1)

dinosaurs and birds and 2) alligators and

crocodiles. Teleocrater was seven to ten feet

long, had a long neck and tail, and walked on four

crocodile-like legs. The discovery of this “missing

link” by paleontologists from Virginia and England

fundamentally challenges paleontological models

of what the close relatives of dinosaurs would

have looked like.

Teleocrater fossils were first discovered in

southern Tanzania in 1933 and studied in the

1950s. But the lack of some of the more crucial

aspects of the animal, such as the ankle bones,

meant those studying the fossils could not

determine whether they belonged to the

crocodilian branch or the dinosaur branch of

reptile evolution. New specimens unearthed in

2015, cleared up that problem. Intact ankle bones

and other skeletal parts helped the more recent

researchers determine that Teleocrater rhadinus

is one of the oldest members of the archosaur

family tree that had a crocodilian look.

The research team intends to revisit Tanzania to

look for still missing parts of Teleocrater that could

help solve other problems of archosaur evolution.

Their research also shows the value of

maintaining and re-assessing historical collections

such as those at many museums and universities.

Who knows how many new discoveries like this

one could be made by looking through collections

with fresh eyes and unbiased concepts.

(http://www.sci-

news.com/paleontology/teleocrater-rhadinus-

04779.html)

Artist’s conception of Teleocrater rhadinus

PGS Board-of-Directors President: Peter R. Michael Director-at-Large: Diane Miller Director-at-Large: Wendell Barner Vice President: Tamra Schiappa Director-at-Large: Mark Barnes Director-at-Large: Erica Love Treasurer: Kyle Fredrick Director-at-Large: Brian Dunst Counselor: John Harper Secretary: Ken LaSota Director-at-Large: Mary Ann Gross Counselor: Charles Shultz Past President: Ray Follador Other PGS Positions Historian: Judy Neelan AAPG Delegate: Andrea Reynolds Webmaster: KR Cercone Continuing Ed: Frank Benacquista AAPG Delegate: Dan Billman

Officer Contacts: If you wish to contact a current PGS Officer, you can email Peter Michael, President, at shabell9@comcast.net; Tamra Schiappa, Vice President and Speaker Coordinator, at tamra.schiappa@sru.edu; Kyle Fredrick, Treasurer, at fredrick@calu.edu; and Ken LaSota, Secretary, at lasota@rmu.edu.

Memberships: For information about memberships, please write PGS Membership Chair, PO Box 58172, Pittsburgh PA 15209, or e-mail jharper.pgs@gmail.com. Membership information may also be found at our website: www.pittsburghgeologicalsociety.org.

Programs: If you would like to make a presentation at a PGS meeting or have a suggestion for a

future speaker, contact Tamra Schiappa, Program Chair at tamra.schiappa@sru.edu. Newsletter: To contact the Newsletter Editor, Karen Rose Cercone, with questions or suggestions

for articles, job postings or geological events, please email kcercone@iup.edu. Facebook: Follow the PGS at https://www.facebook.com/PittsburghGeologicalSociety Twitter: PGS can be followed on Twitter by using the handle @PghGeoSociety

LinkedIn: To join the PGS Group, click https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12018505

Fun Fact Having Nothing to Do with Geology

If you could continually fart for six years and nine months,

you would produce enough gas to create the equivalent

energy released in an atomic bomb.

Editor’s note – this item was submitted by John Harper. 😊

PGS Website of the Month

https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/index.html

ACA Engineering, Inc. www.acaengineering.com

American Geosciences, Inc. www.amergeo.com

American Geotechnical & Environmental Services, Inc.

www.AGESInc.com

Ammonite Resources www.ammoniteresources.com

AWK Consulting Engineers, Inc.

Barner Consulting, LLC

The Baron Group Inc.

Billman Geologic Consultants, Inc. www.billmangeologic.com

DC Energy Consultants

DORSO LP

DiGioia, Gray & Associates, LLC http://www.digioiagray.com

Enviro-Equipment, Inc. www.enviroequipment.com

Falcede Energy Consulting, LLC

Gannett-Fleming http://www.gannettfleming.com/

Geo-Environmental Drilling Co., Inc. www.geoenv.com

Groundwater & Environmental Services, Inc.

hwww.gesonline.com

Hayward Natural Resources, Inc.

HDR Engineering, Inc. www.hdrinc.com

Howard Concrete Pumping Co., Inc. www.howardconcretepumping.com

Insite Group, Inc. www.insitegroup.org

Michael Baker International www.mbakerintl.com

Moody and Associates Inc. www.moody-s.com

Montrose Air Quality Services www.montrose-env.com

Oil & Gas Management, Inc.

Pennsylvania Drilling Co. www.pennsylvaniadrillingco.com

Pennsylvania Soil and Rock, Inc. www.pasoilrock.com

Range Resources Appalachia www.rangeresources.com

Seneca Resources Corporation www.natfuel.com/seneca

THG Geophysics, Ltd. www.THGGeophysics.com

Vista Resources, Inc. www.vistaresources.com

Woodard & Curran, Inc. http://www.woodardcurran.com/